The Mahoning Valley Scrappers played their final game in the spacious confines of Eastwood Field Friday night, and the home season ended similarly to the way the season played out, as the Scrappers fell to the Auburn Doubledays 6-3.

The catching depth in the system might not be of the elite variety, but there are some intriguing names to follow heading into 2014. One of those is Eric Haase, who displayed why he is someone to pay attention to Thursday night. To read all about Haase's powerful showing and everything else you need to know about the night in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around The Farm.

Mick Jagger sang that you can't always get what you want. Jordan Smith is proof that sometimes you find, you get what you need. We all wanted to see Smith develop some power and that is exactly what is happening in August. To read all about Smith's powerful night, a 2013 draft pick dominating in Mahoning Valley, and everything else you need to know about the night in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around The Farm.

JAMESTOWN, NY- After the rain washed away Monday’s contest between the Jamestown Jammers and Mahoning Valley Scrappers, the two teams met for a doubleheader on Tuesday night that resulted in two wins for the home team in a sweep of the twin-set.

In this week’s second edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the impressive pro debut by Clint Frazier out in Arizona, where he is excelling/struggling, and where the numbers can also be misleading. He also provides several comments from the front office on some lesser talked about players at Lake County such as Luis Morel, Jeremy Lucas, Richard Stock, Joe Sever and others, and provides insight into Jose Ramirez’s big league future, Francisco Lindor’s season being over, the breakout year for Erik Gonzalez and much more.

Even though Danny Salazar has come up to the major leagues and gotten results, the organization has not done the best job of developing starting pitching in recent years. There are a few pitchers making waves now, but long-term success will rely on more than one or two arms. Joseph Colon is one of those guys Cleveland needs to develop in order to have more starting depth and he showed what he is capable of Thursday. To read all about Colon's night and everything else you need to know about the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around The Farm.

For the third consecutive night, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers offense was unable to figure out the Jamestown Jammers pitching staff. That is, until the bottom of the ninth inning. With only three hits through the first eight innings, the Scrappers offense exploded in the final frame, culminating with a walk-off home run by Nellie Rodriguez.

The city of Defiance, Ohio is a bit of cliché. With a population just under 17,000 and the typical graduating class just over 100 students, Defiance is small-town, U.S.A. in its purest form. But the town has pumped out some baseball talent over the years, most recently Dace Kime whom the Indians selected in the 3rd round of the MLB Draft this past June. The IBI's Robert Fuller looks at where Kime started his career and where it is going.

The ups and downs of a long baseball season can affect even the best players. There was a point when Carolina second baseman Joe Wendle and Lake County right-hander Dylan Baker were red-hot, yet of late, the pair had struggled. That was not the case Wednesday night as both broke out in big ways. To read about their night and everything you need to know about Wednesday in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around The Farm.

Another night of baseball, another night of sloppy play by the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, resulting in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Jamestown Jammers. Mahoning Valley has now lost six in row, due in part to poor defensive play.

Niles, OH – Averaging just over two runs per-game since the All-Star break, it’s fair to say the Mahoning Valley Scrappers offense has struggled as of late. Those struggles continued Tuesday night, and the Scrappers lost 4-2 to the Jamestown Jammers for their fifth straight loss.

In this week’s opening Minor Happenings salvo, Tony takes a look at the excitement that is brewing with Low-A Lake County right-handed pitching prospect Dylan Baker and why he is one of the Indians best pitching prospects. He also provides several comments from Ross Atkins on players at Double-A Akron such as Tyler Holt, Carlos Moncrief, Will Roberts and others, and provides lots of insight into the development of Jesus Aguilar, Luis DeJesus, Caleb Hamrick, Sean Brady, Jorge Martinez and others.

As has been the theme this season and the story last night, errors from the Scrappers cost them yet another a winnable game, as the CrossCutters were victorious on Monday night by a final score of 4-2. The Scrappers had five total errors in Monday’s contest, all of which were monumental in scoring situations. Multiple errors were what gave the CrossCutters a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning and multiple errors were what won the CrossCutters the game in the eighth.

On Sunday afternoon in Williamsport, the site of the ongoing Little League World Series, history was made as the Williamsport Crosscutters no-hit the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and secured an 8-0 victory.

The Scrappers were on the cusp of splitting a two-game series with the Auburn Doubledays before errors and a walk-off sac-fly sent them packing by a score of 4-3. Re-energized by the miscues of their opponents, the Doubledays won the game 4-3 in the bottom of the tenth and swept the Scrappers on a walk-off sac-fly from catcher Andruth Ramirez.

In today’s week ending edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at High-A Carolina outfield prospect Jordan Smith who continues to make incremental progress and has the skills but has a few things he is still working on before he is taken more seriously as a prospect. In addition to that he provides some comments from Ross Atkins on how the organization prioritizes prospects for trades as well as comments on several players at Carolina and Lake County, plus he provides insight into the development of Paolo Espino, Kyle Crockett, Ryan Merritt, Luis Lugo and others.

Is there anything better than seeing a top prospect take his team to victory? Sure, Lake County would not have won 1-0 without a shutout pitching performance, but Dorssys Paulino's solo home run provided all the offense the Captains needed. Paulino has continued to turn things around following his rough start and he sustained that constant progress Thursday night. To read about Paulino and everything else you need to know about the night in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik as he goes Around The Farm.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!